"Madonna in a Fur Coat" by Sabahattin Ali

NOTE FOR NEW MEMBERS: We tend to sit at the tables near the TV. If you can't see us, please wait at the bar, and we will come and show you where we are sitting. Please don't ask the bar staff where we are sitting, as they don't know who we are.

Hitchin Book Club invites you to join us for some light-hearted discussions. This event is a great introduction to the book club (especially if you have never been to a book club before). We always welcome new members regardless of their level of reading experience.

Book Name: Madonna in a Fur Coat
Book Author: Sabahattin Ali.
Genre: Literary/Romance
Published: 1943
Word Count: ~42k
Read Time Estimate: 3h
Date: Wednesday 17th June 2026
Start Time: 19:30
End Time: approx 21:30
Location: The Albert Inn, 50 Walsworth Rd, Hitchin SG4 9SU - sitting at one of the tables inside. I will post in the comments any updates to the location.

Structure:
- Brief introduction and what you thought about the book
- Discussions based on a set of pre-prepared questions as prompts
- 10 to 15 minute break half-way through, option to join whatsapp group
- Opportunity to ask any questions to the group
- Closing thoughts and provide a rating for book out of 10
- Vote for the next book
- Book club formally ends - feel free to leave or stick around for general conversations

About book (from Goodreads):
The bestselling Turkish classic of love and longing in a changing world, available in English for the first time.

'It is, perhaps, easier to dismiss a man whose face gives no indication of an inner life. And what a pity that is: a dash of curiosity is all it takes to stumble upon treasures we never expected.'

A shy young man leaves his home in rural Turkey to learn a trade in 1920s Berlin. The city's crowded streets, thriving arts scene, passionate politics and seedy cabarets provide the backdrop for a chance meeting with a woman, which will haunt him for the rest of his life. Emotionally powerful, intensely atmospheric and touchingly profound, Madonna in a Fur Coat is an unforgettable novel about new beginnings and the unfathomable nature of the human soul.

'Passionate but clear . . . Ali's success [is in ] his ability to describe the emergence of a feeling, seemingly straightforward from the outside but swinging back and forth between opposite extremes at its core, revealing the tensions that accompanies such rise and fall.' Atilla Özkirimli, writer and literary historian